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Monday, November 24, 2008

Meetha Pulao (Sweet Rice)



Ingredients:


  • Basmati rice - 1 cup (soaked for 1 hour)
  • Sugar - 1/2 cup
  • Ghee or Butter - 3 tbsp (use home made ghee or Desi ghee for great taste)
  • Cloves - 3 nos.
  • Green cardamoms - 4 nos.
  • Raisins - 10-20 nos. or 1 tbsp (soaked in water)
  • Almonds - 10-20 nos. or 1 tbsp (blanched & shredded)
  • Saffron - 1/2 tsp (soaked in 2 tbsp of warm water or a few drops of yellow color)
  • Ruh kewra - 1/2 tsp (or 2 drops of kewra essence)
  • Cashew nuts - 10-20 nos. or 1 tbsp.
  • Green pistachio nuts - 5-7 nos.
  • 1 silver leaf (optional)

Method:

  • First of all mix 3/4 cup of water and sugar in a small pan and boil for few minutes. Remove from flame and keep it aside.
  • Now heat ghee in a heavy bottomed pan and add cloves and cardamoms. Fry them until cardamoms change color.
  • Also add raisins and almonds. Fry till raisins swell.
  • Now to this, add rice and 1 1/2 cups of water and mix them gently.
  • Add saffron or yellow color to the rice and boil until the rice is almost done and water gets absorbed.
  • Add kewra essence to the sugar syrup. Mix and add the sugar syrup to the cooked rice. Stir the rice very gently and cook further for 4-5 minutes till the rice is done.
  • Garnish with a silver leaf, shredded pista, cashewnuts and a few whole almonds.
  • Serve it hot.

Trivia:

  • Saffron's aroma is often described by connoisseurs as reminiscent of metallic honey with grassy or hay-like notes, while its taste has also been noted as hay-like and somewhat bitter. Saffron also contributes a luminous yellow-orange colouring to foods. Saffron is widely used in Iranian (Persian), Arab, Central Asian, European, Indian,Turkish, Moroccan and Cornish cuisines. It also has many medicinal properties.
  • A pound of dry saffron (0.45 kg) requires 50,000–75,000 flowers, the equivalent of a football field's area of cultivation. Saffron prices at wholesale and retail rates range from US$500/pound to US$5,000/pound (US$1,100–US$11,000 per kilogram)—equivalent to £250/€350 per pound or £5,500/€7,500 per kilo. In Western countries, the average retail price is $1,000/£500/€700 per pound (US$2,200/£1,100/€1,550 per kilogram)

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